A few weeks ago, Matt Cador articulated that HP would be able to use the same strategy it used to become the top selling PC manufacturer to topple the iPad.

“In the PC world,” Cador explained, “with fewer ways of differentiating HP’s products from our competitors, we became number one; in the tablet world we’re going to become better than number one. We call it number one plus.”

Well, we’ll see how prescient Cador is soon enough.

HP last week announced that the TouchPad, the company’s first WebOS-based tablet, will be coming to market in the US, Europe, and Canada on July 1.

The base models (wi-fi only) will emulate Apple’s iPad pricing, with 16GB and 32GB models of the TouchPad retailing for $499 and $599 respectively.

“What makes HP TouchPad a compelling alternative to competing products is webOS,” Apple executive and current HP exec Jon Rubinstein explained. “The platform’s unmatched features and flexibility will continue to differentiate HP products from the rest of the market for both personal and professional use. This is only the beginning of what HP’s scale can do with webOS.”

Perhaps UI wise WebOS can compete, but HP will need to get up to speed in the app market if it ever hopes to have even a sliver of hope of competing against Apple’s iPad. Hell, it needs a solid selection of apps just to compete against RIM and the slew of Android tablets out on the market.

HP also noted that they’ll be partnering with AT&T later this Summer to offer a connected version of the TouchPad.